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EIS question

Dugaru

Dugaru

Well Known Member
So I think I've basically figured out my new (to me) Horizon WS and EIS. Except for one thing: I'm getting a periodic alarm that, when acknowledged, takes me to the engine time page. (The GRT documentation for the EIS calls this Page 5.) The number above engine time, which I take to be flight time (?) is flashing.

I can't figure this one out. The (somewhat minimalist....) GRT operational materials haven't yielded the secret, at least not to me. And I'd rather not take my Most Important Copilot for a ride while the big red light keeps flashing. Any ideas?

Luckily the wings don't seem to fall off as a result of whatever deadly condition is being indicated. :)

Thanks!!
 
"Somewhat minimalist"

You, sir, are a study in understatement and grace in regards to GRT product documentation. Cheers!:D
 
Bill Boyd said:
You, sir, are a study in understatement and grace in regards to GRT product documentation. Cheers!:D
Click to expand...

:) I'm developing a sort of love-hate relationship with GRT. Love the gadgets, and I'm kind of figuring out their Zen, but the documentation seems like it was written for somebody who has already been working at GRT for 17 years.
 
Last edited:
30 minute timer?

Any chance it lights up 30 minutes after engine start or flying time? I liked the timer function providing a reminder to select the other tank every 30 mins. (The exact interval is adjustable so might be different than 30.)

I hope that's it!
 
vfr800 said:
Any chance it lights up 30 minutes after engine start or flying time? I liked the timer function providing a reminder to select the other tank every 30 mins. (The exact interval is adjustable so might be different than 30.)

I hope that's it!
Click to expand...

It's periodic but faster than every 30 minutes.

Very possible it was set as a tank-switch reminder at 30 minutes, and I then fat fingered the time when I was trying to configure the other settings.

Do you know what the setting is called? I don't want to reset the engine timer. :)

Thanks!!
 
Yes, the EIS can be confusing, but it is a powerful, versatile, proven box.

I think you are seeing EIS page 10 (see page 38 of EIS documentation). It shows flight time & internal temp on the top line and engine hours on the bottom line. Page 6 of the documentation shows that Max Time is a settable limit. It can be used to alert you to change tanks etc. If you set that limit to 0, it will eliminate the alarm. See page 7 of the documentation for how to do this. All these references are the EIS User Manual Rev M available on the GRT website.

Hope this helps. Be aware that the software in all models of GRT EFIS are pretty similar. If you cant find an answer in your particular model manual, look in the others. This is especially true of the Sport and Horizon manuals. There also are Feature of the Week and Video Tutorials on the website.

If you think the documentation is bad now, you should have seen it 10 years ago! I wrote most of the Sport and Horizon documentation that is currently on the website as a favor to Carlos Fernandez.

Jim Butcher
Europa XS
 
h&jeuropa said:
Yes, the EIS can be confusing, but it is a powerful, versatile, proven box.

I think you are seeing EIS page 10 (see page 38 of EIS documentation). It shows flight time & internal temp on the top line and engine hours on the bottom line. Page 6 of the documentation shows that Max Time is a settable limit. It can be used to alert you to change tanks etc. If you set that limit to 0, it will eliminate the alarm. See page 7 of the documentation for how to do this. All these references are the EIS User Manual Rev M available on the GRT website.

Hope this helps. Be aware that the software in all models of GRT EFIS are pretty similar. If you cant find an answer in your particular model manual, look in the others. This is especially true of the Sport and Horizon manuals. There also are Feature of the Week and Video Tutorials on the website.

If you think the documentation is bad now, you should have seen it 10 years ago! I wrote most of the Sport and Horizon documentation that is currently on the website as a favor to Carlos Fernandez.

Jim Butcher
Europa XS
Click to expand...

Thank you very much!!! I'm starting to suspect I was looking at the wrong manual? The one I had didn't show a page 10 at all. But of COURSE that didn't stop me from insulting the quality of the documentation. :) Back to the web....
 
You might also consider eliminating the big red light and relying on the EFIS and its settings to display the warnings. They still get my attention, while not being quite as unsettling to passengers along for the ride.

Erich
 
erich weaver said:
You might also consider eliminating the big red light and relying on the EFIS and its settings to display the warnings. They still get my attention, while not being quite as unsettling to passengers along for the ride.

Erich
Click to expand...
Good idea. I already changed the panel label from "ENGINE WARNING" to "Engine Info" for just this reason. Maybe a green light? :)
 
It is confusing until we start reading and understanding it, then it all makes sense.

As Erich has mentioned, most people have their alerts set thru the EIFS but some of the critical ones like oil pressure, specially if you don't have your EIFS wired to be powered during engine start. Even with that, it takes longer for the EIFS to boot up than EIS so my EIS will alert me of lack of oil pressure during start up, should such thing happens.
 
Good points on setting the limits. Since GRT only provides a max and a min level alarm, no "yellow" arc or caution alarms, I set my caution alarm in my EFIS and my red line alarm in my EIS. That way I know I may have a problem since the parameter is in the "yellow" area but I'm still not at red line. If the EIS alarm goes off, I'm at the red line.

Jim Butcher
 
h&jeuropa said:
Yes, the EIS can be confusing, but it is a powerful, versatile, proven box.

I think you are seeing EIS page 10 (see page 38 of EIS documentation). It shows flight time & internal temp on the top line and engine hours on the bottom line. Page 6 of the documentation shows that Max Time is a settable limit. It can be used to alert you to change tanks etc. If you set that limit to 0, it will eliminate the alarm. See page 7 of the documentation for how to do this. All these references are the EIS User Manual Rev M available on the GRT website.

Hope this helps. Be aware that the software in all models of GRT EFIS are pretty similar. If you cant find an answer in your particular model manual, look in the others. This is especially true of the Sport and Horizon manuals. There also are Feature of the Week and Video Tutorials on the website.

If you think the documentation is bad now, you should have seen it 10 years ago! I wrote most of the Sport and Horizon documentation that is currently on the website as a favor to Carlos Fernandez.

Jim Butcher
Europa XS
Click to expand...

I just programmed my EIS. I remember a flight time max setting that will cause an alarm, as Jim mentioned. There is also an "Interval" time that will flash a warning after the programmed time elapses. The timer restarts each time you acknowledge the alarm. It is intended for reminders such as switching tanks.

Larry
 
Okay, so I set "Max Time" to 0 in the EIS, but I'm still getting a flashing alarm every few minutes. It's the number that's "missing" here (I managed to take a photo mid-flash....). Any ideas how I can squelch this? Thanks!!

r932uw.jpg
 
lr172 said:
I just programmed my EIS. I remember a flight time max setting that will cause an alarm, as Jim mentioned. There is also an "Interval" time that will flash a warning after the programmed time elapses. The timer restarts each time you acknowledge the alarm. It is intended for reminders such as switching tanks.

Larry
Click to expand...
Ah I haven't set the "interval" time yet (I don't think). Perhaps I fat-fingered that at some point. I'll give this a try!
 
That did in fact do the trick!

The more I use the EIS the better I like it. There's sort of a Zen to it that takes a while to appreciate.

Dugaru said:
Ah I haven't set the "interval" time yet (I don't think). Perhaps I fat-fingered that at some point. I'll give this a try!
Click to expand...
 
EIS Docs

When I built my RV-8 way back when, I was dead set on Blue Mountain. The time to purchase avionics coincided with that years SNF. I took my autistic(high functioning) son with me and we had a blast until we met the attitude at the BM booth. Thats when we met Greg and Sandy, along with Mr. Younkin at the GRT booth. before the day was over, we became early GRT/TT customers. My son was treated like family by Mr. Younkin and Greg and Sandy were everything you would want in a customer service heaven.

My only issue was and still is the EIS. Wiring was not an issue, but documentation on the set up was. At that early time EIS was only configurable via EIS and as god as Sandy was, it was a nightmare.

I bought Dynon for my RV-6A for several reasons, but primarily because of the memories of no EIS documentation. FWIW I used EI intruments in my Mooney restore, in my RV-6A and have them for both my next RV-6 and my 61 C172 restoration. I don't want all of my eggs in a single basket.

FWIW and God bless.
 
Dugaru said:
Good idea. I already changed the panel label from "ENGINE WARNING" to "Engine Info" for just this reason. Maybe a green light? :)
Click to expand...

My wife used to get nervous when the red light started blinking and me paging.
She thought I was keeping things from her, although my limits were set conservatively.
I changed it to a blue light.
It's all good now.:cool:
 
h&jeuropa said:
Good points on setting the limits. Since GRT only provides a max and a min level alarm, no "yellow" arc or caution alarms, I set my caution alarm in my EFIS and my red line alarm in my EIS. That way I know I may have a problem since the parameter is in the "yellow" area but I'm still not at red line. If the EIS alarm goes off, I'm at the red line.

Jim Butcher
Click to expand...

+1. Same here. If EFIS CHTs flash red, I need to plan some action. If EIS red light comes on for CHT, I need to do something now.

IMHO GRT makes very good equipment (no horizon loss if your GPS and pitot both fail, for example) but their documentation is not for novices to electronics. You need to be willing and able to read thru hundreds of pages, and know what you're looking for when you find it. But it certainly can be done. Some of this complexity is the necessary price you pay for having equipment that will not just interface to stuff from the same vendor, but rather from many.
 
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